| By: |
Cull, Robert;
Harten, Sven;
Nishida, Ippei;
Bull, Greta |
| Abstract: |
In recent years there has been a rapid increase in the presence and growth of
greenfield microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper uses
regressions to benchmark those African greenfields relative to other
microfinance providers and finds that greenfields grew faster in terms of
deposits and lending, improved their profitability to levels comparable to the
top microfinance institutions, and substantially increased their lending to
women. The effects were especially strong for greenfields that followed a
consultant-led model to establish a deep retail banking presence spanning
multiple countries, including the creation of extensive branch networks.
Although their loan sizes are somewhat larger than those of most African
microfinance institutions, indicating less outreach to the poorest market
segments, greenfields have achieved rapid gains in financial inclusion on a
broad scale. |
| Keywords: |
Access to Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Debt Markets,Corporate Law,Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress |
| Date: |
2014–09–01 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7029&r=mfd |